Andrés Curruchich is considered the first and most important of the naïve painters of San Juan Comalapa. He was born in 1891, and began to paint in the 1920s as a means to try to earn extra money. In the 1930s and 1940s he was invited to exhibit his works in various festivals and fairs in Guatemala. By 1950 his work was known in Guatemala City, and at this time he began to paint in oils on canvas. During the 1950s he exhibited in Guatemala City and at various galleries in the United States. His work depicted the life of his native Mayan people in very simple and understandable form. Curruchich was awarded the Order of the Quetzal by the Guatemalan government in 1960 for his value and contribution to the nation, as well as a small pension. He died in 1969.